Thanks Giving!

It's been awhile, but I was on vacation.



My Thanksgiving was celebrated on Saturday. I have approached the holidays in Costa Rica, which have always tough for me, stoically. So armed with the resolved to impress my new German and Norwegian friends, I commenced planning my mom's good old fashion cooking strategy, "When in doubt make extra." Good plan right, ummm Lisa, you are in Costa Rica, American cooking supplies are in limited supply here in Tamarindo and when you do find them, freaking expensive. I found a turkey with the help of my landlord, Hans, potatoes, bread, cranberry stuff in a can, yep that was pretty much it, but my biggest dilemma was sage, salvia in Spanish, it was no where to be found. How the heck was I suppose to make my mom's secret dressing recipe without sage, well I wasn't. I improvised and used vegetarian sausage. I made it through the process of putting the turkey in the oven, making the fake sage dressing, getting all the misc. ready when, right before I was going to peel potatoes, I made the biggest mistake of the day, I checked my email. Myspace////blah blah////you have a message//// So I checked it. My Sarah had emailed me, it's been a while, anyway, she told me someone we both knew, someone who made me laugh, someone who was kind of a rebel back in the small town of Ottawa, Illinois, passed away yesterday. People die, I know, but I was just getting back in the holiday groove, not dusting off all those sad memories of the dear departed. My father passed away a few years ago right before T.day, not to mention the rest of my family. But, I digress, John Spicer was now dead. John Spicer was just one of many who contributed to great memories in my life back in Ottawa Illinois, from the great tooth hunt to the pony. I have enjoyed telling those great tales, they always made people laugh. I just wanted to get it on record that John Spicer contributed humor and fond memories to my life.

So anyway, I made my mashed potatoes, I entertained my friends with silly stories as they did me. We all ate to much, drank not enough.